Kingpin of gang selling leopard skins arrested

Express news service : Sat Feb 23 2013, 02:22 hrs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kingpin-of-gang-selling-leopard-skins-arrested/1078468/

The crime branch has arrested kingpin of a gang that tried to sell a leopard skin Monday. Four other members of the gang — two sons and two acquaintances of forest officers living in staff quarters inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali — were caught in the act.

The kingpin, Pankaj Patel, brother of one of the accused arrested earlier, was picked up on Thursday.

“We seized five leopard molars and an equal number of incisors and canines from Pankaj, son of a forest officer,” said joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy.

“Pankaj shot the leopard. There were two bullet holes in the skin,” he said. Police claimed the five accused had admitted to selling four leopard skins in the past for Rs 4 lakh each.

On Monday, the crime branch had arrested Raju Khaire (27), Prashant Patel (26), Tushar Bagwe (20) and Abhishek Rane (23) from Borivali (East) and seized a leopard skin they were allegedly trying to sell.

It said Patel and Bagwe were sons of forest offers and Khaire and Rane their acquaintances. All the accused have been booked under sections 39 and 51 of Wildlife Protection Act.

In a separate case, a 48-year-old man was arrested in Kurla (West) Tuesday, also trying to sell a leopard skin worth Rs 1.5 lakh. He has allegedly confessed to having acquired it from a relative in Pune. Forest department suspects the leopard was from Sahyadri Hills.

 

Leopard kills boy, 6th death in 7 months

READ MORE Saurabh Yadav|Jalpesh Mehta|Aarey

 By Linah Baliga, TNN | Jan 28, 2013, 02.59 AM IST

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Leopard-kills-boy-6th-death-in-7-months/articleshow/18214821.cms

MUMBAI: A 10-year-old boy, Saurabh Yadav, was mauled to death by a leopard on Saturday at Adarsh Nagar in Aarey. This is the sixth death due to a leopard attack in Mumbai in the past seven months. Saurabh had gone to attend nature’s call with his friend around 7.30pm when the animal dragged him inside the forest. His friend started screaming for help. The police later recovered Saurabh’s mauled body.

“The area falls under Thane forest jurisdiction. There is a cheap paid public toilet, but locals invite trouble by squatting in the open. They also strew garbage around, which attracts pigs and dogs, easy prey for leopards,” said Santosh Saste, assistant conservator of forests (vigilance), Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

The other big problem is that the national park boundary is patchy and not continuous, making people living in Aarey vulnerable to big cat attacks.

Jalpesh Mehta, founder, Empower Foundation, who has been working on SGNP’s man-animal conflict, said that early Saturday morning they got a call from tribals informing them that a female leopard was trapped inside Aarey Milk Colony’s Mataipada.

“It was a female leopard. We were told there was a male leopard roaring in the periphery of the area. We transported the female leopard to SGNP. Our team has been tracking it through its droppings, pug marks and regular information from locals. Even as we surmised that the leopards were in search of food, we got a call that a boy was attacked,” said Mehta.

 

Boost for state’s first leopard safari at SGNP, work to start early next year

Nikhil M Ghanekar, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, October 12, 2012

http://www.hindustantimes.com

 

Work on the state’s first leopard safari, at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, is expected to start early next year. This week, authorities of the national park sent the final master layout plan of the safari to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and are hoping to get the final approval in December.

The idea of a leopard safari was mooted to create an open space for the 22 captive leopards housed in a leopard orphanage inside SGNP. This orphanage houses man-eating leopards, injured and old leopards, and those that were trapped after straying into human habitats.

Presently, these leopards are kept in separate enclosures of 110sq ft. The leopard safari will be located in a 20-hectare area inside SGNP, adjacent to the existing Lion and Tiger safari. The total area occupied by the three safaris will be 100 hectares. These barb-wired enclosures will be around 50-feet high.

“The leopards will be released in the safari area in the morning. We will release 3 to 4 leopards at a time and create a separate feeding area for them. They will be brought back to the enclosures at night,” said Sunil Limaye, director, SGNP.

Limaye added, “Once we get the final approval from CZA, we will carry out the detailed budgeting. Following that, construction of the enclosures will begin.”

The safari will also have dense tree cover so that leopards can climb up to rest. The captive leopards will shift to their new and bigger orphanage by March. Each orphanage enclosure will be around 165 sq.ft in size while there will also be a separate exercise area created for the leopards. The leopards will be released in the safari from their orphanage enclosures.

Experts said that a leopard safari will give more breathing space for the leopards. “The present enclosures are not really great and leopards should not be kept in captivity forever. But, the leopards should not be released in large numbers as they do not usually move in groups,” said Vidya Athreya, wildlife biologist with Center for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore.